Nutkhut Showing Rare Old Film as Part of Imagine Festival

The World Premiere of nutkhut’s latest major outdoor work, Movieplex, will be presented in August as part of Liverpool’s programme for European Capital of Culture 2008.

Movieplex is a minature celebration of the pioneering, but lost, work of filmmaker Shanta Rao Dutt. He left Mumbai in 1896 to follow the Lumiere brothers to France, then travelled the world documenting life and making short films wherever he went.

Part museum, featuring memorabilia from the Dutt family’s many films and history, and part miniature cinema, Movieplex features a recently discovered, nine minute, silent comedy by Dutt made in 1920’s Liverpool.

The film, ‘Docker and the Rose,’ was discovered in 2006 in the drawer of an Edwardian display box bought from an antique shop in Wallasey, near Liverpool by Ajay Chhabra, co-artistic director of nutkhut whilst in Liverpool for performances of the company’s hugely successful outdoor dance spectacular, Bollywood Steps.

The ‘Docker and the Rose’ was Dutt’s first fictional film. It is a touching love story between a wealthy dock owner’s daughter and a docker set against the background of unrest in the Liverpool docks at the time. It is a good example of one of Dutt’s beliefs “The truth is never quite what it seems.”
Marion Hewitt, Director, the North West Film Archive, was closely involved in the conservation and digital conversion of the film. She said: “This is a very exciting and important discovery. Dutt made a significant, but little known contribution to film which nutkhut and a group of enthusiasts are starting to put on the map.”

Ajay Chhabra added:
“My chance discovery of Dutt’s significant lost work has led me and nutkhut on our own creative journey across countries and continents in bringing the incredible past and the present together for the public to enjoy in Movieplex.”

Fiona Gasper, Executive Producer, the Liverpool Culture Company, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Movieplex to Liverpool this summer. The production will form a key element of the programme for Imagine… – a ten-day festival for young people and their families.”

Movieplex – world cinema in a nutshell by nutkhut as part of ‘Imagine…’ a festival for young people and familiesWilliam Brown Street, Liverpool
Thurs 7 – Sun 10 August 11.30am – 1.30pm & 3 – 5pm